The present invention relates to a device for measuring the condensation temperature of an organic or inorganic gas or vapor by means of an electric capacitor.
The known devices for measuring condensation points, which are disclosed, for example, in the text, A. Wexler, Humidity and Moisture -- Rheinhold Publ. Corp. N.Y. -- Chapman and Hall Ltd. -- London (1965), generally include a mirror equipped with a thermocouple. The mirror can be cooled and the formation of the condensate is observed with the naked eye or with the help of any apparatus which makes this detection possible, for example a photoelectric cell. The temperature measured during the formation of the condensate can be maintained by alternate heating and cooling processes which have an instantaneous action and are adjusted as finely as possible so as to attain a temperature which differs from the actual condensation temperature by only a few hundredths of a degree. However, these devices possess the disadvantages characteristic of all optical measurements, that is to say they are easily soiled, they lack robustness, their optical path is difficult to align, and the like. The devices of this type require frequent maintenance and it is difficult to adapt them to industrial processes which are carried out continuously. In these cases, it is thus necessary to use measuring and regulating apparatuses based on different principles, which are more robust but also slower and more expensive and which function discontinuously, amongst which are gas chromatography apparatuses.